Words Word on the street

April 14, 2005

News and notes from the San Antonio Literary scene

Best of Slam

Cheer on Bexar County's best spoken wordsmiths when San Antonio's weekly poetry slam, Puro Slam, in collaboration with the monthly Free Verse Fridays, holds their final team selections Tuesday, April 12, to determine the top four performance poets San Anto will send to Albuquerque this August for the 16th Annual National Poetry Slam. The palabras start dropping at 10 p.m. at Sam's Burger Joint, 330 E. Grayson.

Third World Voices

Third World Majority, a women-of-color collective, has issued a call for submissions for a new anthology and curriculum about media justice. They are looking for interviews and essays from contemporary and veteran organizers active in changing the face of those who report the news to reflect more accurately the world around them. For more information contact DeAnne Cuellar of the Texas Media Empowerment Project at 320-7561 or at deanne@tokyo.com. Or attend a meeting of the Texas Media Empowerment Project, held at 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of the month at the Esperanza Center, 922 San Pedro. deanne@tokyo.com

The eighth annual San Antonio Poetry Fair invites aspiring poets to submit their work for competition and inclusion in Voices of the River, an anthology. The entry deadline is May 31. Submission details, fees, and entry forms are available at hometown.aol.com/sapoetryfair. For more information, contact Don Mathis at 736-1405 or DMathis@trinity.edu.

Round Top Poetry

Those of you with a thirst for poetry and a tank full of gas might want to make the drive out to Round Top on April 30 and May 1 for the 2005 Poetry at Round Top Festival, featuring the beloved Naomi Shihab Nye as well as scores of other poets. The two-day program closes National Poetry Month with readings, workshops, talks, and collaboration between the beginning bards and the well-versed. Contact the International Festival Institute (festivalhill.org) through e-mail at info@festivalhill.org or by phone at (979) 249-3129 for more information.